So Wild And So Clean

If I am being honest I had never heard of clean label food. So when I was contacted by Emma I was intrigued to learn a bit more about the ‘trend’. After doing a little research I was filled with an air of hope and optimism for the future of our food industry.

It seems that ‘clean label’ or ‘clean dec’ produce is on the rise and becoming more of a movement than a trend. Incredibly exciting news, as the benefits of this clean label produce extend far beyond the consumers health. Companies that prioritise natural ingredients with minimal processing are essentially reducing their environmental footprint and making that difficult leap to sustainability so lacking in the current mass food market.

As a forager, I am a believer in food being as organic and unprocessed as possible. Emma Basic does exactly this. So without hesitation I jumped at the chance to use some of their produce in my cooking. Today I will be cooking with their Keto Konjac Noodles. 

My morning began with a trip to the woods to collect some wild garlic. There was a slight drizzle in the air, but I always think the garlic smells a little sweeter when harvested just after rainfall. Wild garlic is such an incredible wild food, easy to identify, and not much is needed to make a big impact in any dish.

Just head to your nearest deciduous woodland that has a stream and you should find some. It has bright green tapering leaves with a white stem. When harvesting simply cut or pick the leaf by its stem a couple of centimetres above the forest floor. Be sure never to uproot the plant as you are wanting to return to that same spot the following year for sure !

So with my satchel nicely filled with the heady scent of garlic it was time to head home and start marrying these two worlds together. The wild and the clean. A match made in heaven surely.

When it comes to the wild garlic leaves, there are so many things that they lend themselves to, my options were pretty much unlimited. However, I wanted to keep it simple and to make a pesto to accompany the konjac noodles, substituting them in instead of carbohydrate heavy spaghetti. The results were as I had expected, sublime.

Happy Foraging !  

Wild Garlic Pesto with Konjac Noodles

Ingredients :

Wild Garlic 50g

Keto Konjac Noodles 170g

Parmesan 60g

Pine nuts 60g

Olive Oil 150ml

Salt

Pepper

Method

Add the pine nuts to a dry pan large enough that the nuts are sitting in a single layer. Put the pan onto a medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes until you can see them begin to colour. Wash the wild garlic and remove the stems. Break up the leaves by hand into a food blender and add the remaining ingredients and blend until the desired consistency is achieved. I like my pesto a little rough, so I only blended for 20 seconds or so. Rinse and drain the noodles and add them to a pan of boiling water for 30 seconds to simply heat though. Drain, return to the pan and stir in the pesto. Serve.